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A HUNDRED AND SEVENTYCHINESE POEMS

TRANSLATED BY
ARTHUR WALEY

LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD.
1918

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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

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PRELIMINARY NOTE

In making this book I have tried to avoid poemswhich have been translated before. A hundred andforty of those I have chosen have not been translatedby any one else. The remaining thirty odd I haveincluded in many cases because the previous versionswere full of mistakes; in others, because the works inwhich they appeared are no longer procurable. Moreover,they are mostly in German, a language withwhich my readers may not all be acquainted.

With some hesitation I have included literal versionsof six poems (three of the “Seventeen Old Poems,”“Autumn Wind,” “Li Fu-jēn,” and “On the Deathof his Father”) already skilfully rhymed by ProfessorGiles in “Chinese Poetry in English Verse.” Theywere too typical to omit; and a comparison of the tworenderings may be of interest. Some of these translationshave appeared in the “Bulletin of the School ofOriental Studies,” in the “New Statesman,” in the“Little Review” (Chicago), and in “Poetry”(Chicago).

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CONTENTS

PART I